Luke Plunkett

It was one of the most important conflicts in human history, but for all its impact the Great War remains an almost non-event in video game circles.

The war, which raged across Europe and the Middle East between 1914-1918, is often assumed to be under-represented in games due to the nature of the conflict. Who'd want to play as a soldier who sleeps in mud for weeks, climbs out of a trench and thirty seconds later is gunned down by machine gun fire?

Well...I would. So Gallica's The Trench looks great.

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An ambitious first-person game that blends siege strategy with shooting action (and even stealth mechanics), you begin as a French soldier three days before a German assault. You have that time to get your defences up to snuff before the attack begins. Conversely, you can play as the Germans and plan the attack.

While it looks a bit rough, and the project has been quiet since February, the developers promise that an Alpha release of the game is "coming".